The Easter Intervention
by Foodie
Summary: The third installment of my Steve Rogers series. The relationship with his girlfriend, Susan, was really heating up after Valentine's Day. But suddenly, things have taken a turn for the worse for poor Steve, and only Tony Stark and Clint Barton can help him. But does he really want to take their advice? Read to find out!


A/N: This is a new installment in my Steve Rogers series that began with a Christmas story entitled, "Just Like the Ones I Used to Know". The second installment is a Valentine's story entitled, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". If you are new to the series, I highly recommend reading those pieces first, as this one won't make much sense without those. And also, I am enjoying hearing feedback about this series and if you have any suggestions of what you'd like to see happen in Steve's life, feel free to share them. You might just end up seeing it happen!

Spoiler Warning: Contains spoilers for Downton Abbey, season three.

The Easter Intervention

Clint walked down the street to Steve Rogers's apartment. Nick Fury had sent him to check on Steve after not hearing from him in over a week. He was no longer answering his home phone and his cell phone was shut off. Fury was concerned, and had volunteered Clint to check up on Steve. "You owe it to him after your little Christmas stunt," Fury had said.

Clint didn't mind this assignment that much. It was a cloudy, cold Good Friday morning, but not too cold. And while he'd rather be going there with Tasha, who was finally on speaking terms with him again, she was on assignment in Venezuela, leaving him on his own. This would be a fast, easy assignment that would get him on everybody's good side again. It was a win-win situation as far as he was concerned.

It didn't take him too long to find the right building, and after a short elevator ride, and walk down the narrow, dark hallway, he found the correct apartment. He double-checked the number on the door before knocking. "Come in!" he heard Steve call out from somewhere inside.

Clint opened the door and walked into the apartment. "You know, it's not really safe to leave the door unlocked…" he said in greeting.

"I can handle anybody who tries something," Steve replied sullenly.

Clint looked around the room and took everything in. It was a sight he'd never be able to forget. Steve lounged on his couch, wearing nothing but a pair of red and white-striped pajama bottoms, and looked as though he hadn't shaved in at least three days. On his lap was a pie tin, containing a whole apple pie. On top of the pie, Steve had scooped an entire quart of vanilla ice cream and spread it out over the crust. On top of that, he had placed a second pie. Only a few bites were missing. Breakfast of champions…He also had the TV on, and a show Clint didn't recognize was playing. It was full of stuffy British people from the olden days. Steve shook his head at the TV and lifted his pie-and-ice cream-laden spoon up to his mouth to take a bite. "Can you believe it? He just jilted her. Right at the altar," he said bitterly. "I know how you feel, Lady Edith, believe me…" With that, he sighed and took the bite, ignoring the drop of melted ice cream that had dripped onto his bare chest.

Clint furrowed his brow and wrinkled his nose in distaste. "What are you eating?" he asked.

Steve looked down at the tin on his lap for a moment. "Pie sandwich," he finally replied, "I invented it the other day. You want one?"

"No thanks," Clint said. "Listen…What's going on here? Fury sent me to check on you because you're not answering his calls. He was concerned."

"The cell phone broke. And I didn't feel like answering the other one." He held the cell phone out to Clint.

Clint took the phone and examined it for a minute. "It's not broken, it just needs to be recharged," he explained.

Steve sighed. "Susan didn't tell me about that," he finally said sadly. "And now she's gone forever…"

"She broke up with you? What did you do?"

Steve glared at him for a moment before continuing. "Her job transferred her to Seattle. Have you ever heard of a place so far away before? Anyway, she didn't want to try a long-distance relationship, so we broke up…" He stuffed another large bite of "pie sandwich" into his mouth and went back to watching the TV.

Clint walked into the kitchen and used his own phone to call, not Nick Fury, but Tony Stark. He knew Fury would expect a fully-functioning Steve Rogers to report for duty, and it was up to Clint to make sure that happened. "Hey Stark…Listen, are you currently speaking to Steve?" he asked casually.

"We are in between speaking terms at the moment. Our last Monopoly Monday ended in fisticuffs, so Pepper decided it was time for a break," Tony replied coolly. "Why?"

"I need your help…When can you get over to Steve's apartment?"

Tony was silent on the other end for a minute. "Is he ok?" he finally asked.

In response, Clint held up his phone and snapped a shot of Steve lying on the sofa, and sent it to Tony.

"Oh my God!" Tony exclaimed over the phone moments later. "What happened?"

"Girlfriend broke up with him."

Tony was again silent. "Tough break," he finally said. "Though, this might not make Pepper happy, I guess I can do it. I'll be over soon and we can see what we can do for the poor bastard. In the meantime, try to make him take a shower and shave. We'll end up going out somewhere and he looks homeless. Not good."

"All right, see you shortly," Clint replied before returning to the living room. Steve's TV show had just ended, so Clint shut off the TV. "All right, Tony's on his way over, and we're gonna go out, so why don't you go get cleaned up and presentable?"

Steve looked down at his pie sandwich and sighed. "I suppose," he murmured before standing up and shuffling towards his bathroom.

Clint rolled his eyes as he brought the pie into the kitchen and put it in the garbage disposal. It looked like he and Tony had their work cut out for them. Fury would be getting his money's worth from him today…

(SCENE)

Steve stood in his shower and let the hot water rain down on him. His heart had been broken into a thousand pieces and he was never going to be all right again. Things had been going so well for Susan and him. After Valentine's Day, they had gotten more heavily involved, and within a week, they had become completely intimate. He smiled at the memory of that night and how beautiful and amazing it had been. It had been a spontaneous act, after he had told Susan he loved her for the first time.

Steve knew Susan was the perfect woman for him. They were compatible on nearly every level, and she was patient with him when he acted stodgy or closed-minded to the changes he was trying his best to deal with. She tempered him and helped him see the world in a completely different way. She gave him a different kind of strength than the physical sort he had in spades. He wanted to marry her, and had known that from the second he'd told her he loved her. The morning after they had made love the first time, he had held her in his arms as they snuggled in her bed, and he had thought about proposing and how many children they would have one day. He had decided on three, twin boys, and a girl. The boys, Billy and Tommy, would be strapping sons who played baseball out in the street with their friends, and would look out for their baby sister, Mary. She would be the apple of Steve's eye and he would indulge her with tea parties and teddy bears. They would all move out eventually to a large house in the country where they would have a mutt named Sandy as a beloved family pet. Everything would be perfect for them.

Things went beautifully between Steve and Susan after that. They made love every night, until that terrible night two weeks ago when Susan had told him the news that her job needed her to transfer to Seattle immediately to help fill a position that she would be ideal for. It was a wonderful opportunity for her, and she wanted to take advantage of it. It had felt like somebody had pulled the rug out from beneath him to hear this. "I could go with you…" he'd suggested, only to have seen her shake her head.

"I need to do this on my own," Susan had explained. "I know things are going really well for us, but I'm not ready for it to go any further…I think maybe we need a break to see if we really feel the same for each other. I'll come back in the summer for a visit and we can see where we're at. I'm so sorry, Steve, I really am, but I have to do this for myself."

As Steve recalled this terrible moment, he felt tears prick his eyes. The water from the showerhead washed them away, but they flowed freely for several minutes. He didn't care that Clint was out in his living room and that Tony was on his way over. He didn't care if he looked weak in front of them. He'd never felt such devastation before. Not when his life had flashed before his eyes when he'd crashed. Not when he'd undergone his transformation and had never felt such excruciating physical pain. Not when he'd returned to a world that had run away from him and thrown him out into the middle of it completely unprepared.

Susan was the one thing that made him feel comfortable and stable in today's world. She gave him strength and courage and he didn't know what he'd do without her. If she wasn't in his life, he didn't care what happened to himself. Loki could return and kill him this time and he wouldn't care.

He was startled out of his stupor by a loud pounding on the bathroom door. "Steve! You've been in there for fifteen minutes! Haven't you ever heard of conserving water?" Steve sighed and closed his eyes as he heard Tony yelling at him. "You'd better hurry up and you'd better be shaved by the time you get out here!"

Steve finished in the shower and stepped out and over to his sink to shave. It was a chore he didn't enjoy, hence the not shaving for three days when he'd been able to get away with it. After a few more minutes, he'd finished shaving and had gotten dressed and opened the bathroom door. Tony was standing against the wall across from the door, arms crossed and waiting with an impatient frown on his face. "Are you ready to go?" he asked.

"Where are we going?" Steve asked, frowning and crossing his arms to match Tony.

"Out," Tony replied curtly.

"I don't want to go out."

"I came all the way over here; we're going out!" Tony glared at Steve until he sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

"Fine, I'll get my coat…" Steve muttered before walking out into the living room and grabbing his coat and wallet.

The three men walked out of Steve's apartment in silence and made their way down the hallway and over to the elevator. "There's a coffee shop down the street," Steve suggested as they walked out of his building.

"No way, break-up pain requires a trip to a bar," Clint said, steering the group in the opposite direction.

"I concur," Tony replied.

"I can't get drunk," Steve said, "I metabolize alcohol four times faster than other men."

"Then drink four times as much," Tony replied.

"Or drink it four times as fast," Clint added.

Steve rolled his eyes. "It doesn't really work that way…" He walked along with them, no longer protesting, grateful for the company. Besides, what did it matter now what he did? He was back to being completely alone in the world and his heart was shattered. Being at a bar or in his apartment wasn't going to change any of that.

When they arrived at a bar that was open for lunch, Clint led them inside and found a table for them. They sat down and Tony ordered a couple bottles of Scotch for them. "All right, so tell me what happened," he said after the server left them. "What did you do to make Susan break up with you?"

"What makes you think I did anything to make her break up with me?" Steve cried indignantly.

Tony frowned. "Please, she wouldn't just decide on a whim to break up with you so suddenly. You did something that made her _want_ to break it off. So, tell me everything you two got up to before the break up," he said.

Steve sighed and began to think about what might have led up to it. "Well, I made her dinner on Valentine's Day," he began.

"Maybe you're a terrible cook," Clint said as the server arrived with their bottles and glasses. He poured each of them a glass and handed them out.

"I am _not_ a terrible cook," Steve snapped. "You should have tasted that cake I made, it was delicious." He took a sip of his Scotch before continuing. "Anyway, we spent the evening together and she was happy. We were both happy, it was great." He looked at his friends and the grins on their faces. "No, nothing like _that_ happened." Their grins disappeared. "Things heated up over the next week though, and…you know…" He blushed and took another sip.

"You finally punched your v-card," Clint said before high-fiving Tony.

"Well past due," Tony said approvingly.

"V-card? Do I even want to know?" Steve asked, feeling bewildered again. "So, anyway, things were going really well. Like, really well. I was feeling confident and started talking about our lives and the future and how nice it would be when we got married. And then about a week after that, she told me about the job opportunity in Seattle, and that she wanted a clean break when she went there but that she still cared a lot for me and that we could talk on the phone and Skype sometimes. What is Skype?"

Clint and Tony exchanged a knowing look. Clint poured himself a second glass of Scotch while Tony took a deep breath. "So she got cold feet when you started getting clingy," he said, bluntly and accurately. "Why in the world would you bring up marriage this early on in a relationship?"

"What do you mean? If you're…intimate…with somebody, how can you not discuss marriage? How can you be scared of the one and not the other?"

"I don't know exactly how to explain it," Tony said, shrugging, "but these days people take more time before getting ready to get married. There isn't that sense of urgency that there was back in your day. There isn't a world war looming over our heads. We don't feel like tomorrow may never come, so we'd better grow up now, you know?"

"So let me see if I got this straight: In today's world, people have sex whenever they want, with whomever they want, with no thoughts of consequences or marriage later on," Steve replied, folding his arms. "Basically I've come back to a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah filled with immature adults who act like children, and nobody cares…"

Clint and Tony nodded their heads. "Pretty much," Clint replied. "It's good times…"

"You'll get used to it eventually," Tony reassured Steve. "And it's not as bad as you might think. It's just different, that's all. Things change over time. Some stuff that wasn't ok in the past becomes ok eventually; it's always been this way. We just live in a more relaxed time. It's not evil or anything, it just is different from what you're used to."

Steve folded his arms and frowned. "I don't think I'll ever get used to it," he muttered.

"Look at it this way," Clint replied, "You don't really have a choice. You have to adapt to your surroundings, or you won't survive. You're a soldier, right? Well, soldiers have to adapt to things, and adapt quickly, or they stand a higher chance of getting killed. So, tap into your military training and use it to your advantage here."

Steve drained his glass of Scotch and thought about their words. Was he just being too old-fashioned? Maybe he needed to forget about what he'd always thought of as right and wrong and throw himself into today's morality. He could just learn to have mindless fun like everybody else, but he couldn't help but feel that he'd be losing a part of himself if he did. Why should he have to change who he was just to fit in? Susan had always encouraged him to be himself and never do anything he was uncomfortable with just because somebody else wanted him to. She accepted him for who he was, which was what made her so perfect, in his eyes. He still wanted to see if things could work out between them. He just wasn't sure how to try.

"So what should I do?" he asked before pouring himself another Scotch.

"Leave her alone for a month or so," Tony suggested. "Let her get used to her new surroundings and the job and really give her a chance to not have any connection to you. That way she'll start to miss you."

"And for the love of God, when you do talk to her again, don't bring up marriage!" Clint added. "Let her be the one to bring that up, eventually. I mean, Natasha and I have never once talked about marriage. Well, except for that one time when we both agreed it was a terrible idea and not for us."

"Pepper and I have never talked about it either," Tony said, looking relieved. "I just can't imagine getting married…"

Steve frowned. "I've never not imagined it," he said quietly. "I mean, I never thought it would happen, but I always wanted it." He took another sip of Scotch. "You really think I can patch things up with Susan?"

"Well, she's put up with you for this long," Tony replied, "If you can work through this, I don't see why not. Just make sure that any marriage talk is mutual. You can't go around telling her she wants to marry you, because women don't like that. These days they like to make up their own minds. You missed the 60's so I don't expect you to know this, but just know that it's considered rude by today's standards to go around telling women what to do."

"If I told Tasha what to do…I don't even know what she'd do to me," Clint said with a shudder. "One time I told her to get me a newspaper when she was out jogging one morning, and she didn't talk to me for two weeks afterwards. _And_ she didn't get me the newspaper…At least your girlfriend doesn't carry a gun on her person."

"It is one of the things I like about her," Steve quipped as the server handed out menus.

Tony looked at the menu before setting it down and sighing. "I can't believe this," he said sharply. "We're at a bar, and we're sitting around looking at menus and talking about relationships. When did we get so whipped?"

Clint looked soberly at his empty glass of Scotch. "Oh God…you're right," he muttered. "We saved the world, and now we're gabbing like a bunch of old biddies…" he grabbed the bottle of Scotch and drank straight from it. "After we eat, I think I know where we need to go next." He and Tony exchanged another knowing look and grinned at one another.

Steve ordered cheese fries with chili on them, inspiring the other men to order it as well. His appetite for real food was returning now that he had hope of reuniting with Susan. He wasn't sure where they were going next, and neither Clint nor Tony would tell him. It was probably a bad sign.

Steve found out, after they'd finished eating, and Clint had dragged them several blocks away to a building with no windows and a small sign that said "The Lustful Lady", that it was in fact a very bad sign. "I don't want to go in here," he said as Clint opened the door for them.

"Come on, it'll be fun," Tony urged him, grabbing Steve by the arm and pulling him into the building. "You need to enjoy yourself, and this is the best way to do it."

"Well, one of the best ways to do it," Clint said with a cackle. "I can think of some others…"

Steve glanced around the room as they walked in. It was dark, and there was a dimly lit stage looming in front of them. Scantily clad women gyrated on the stage, some of them holding onto and twirling around on poles attached to the stage. None of women looked happy to be there and he felt very uncomfortable being around them.

Tony found a table right next to the stage and took out a handful of bills from his wallet before sitting down. Clint sat down next to him and started whistling at the women. Steve sighed and sat down across from them, but took a moment to turn the chair around so he faced the door instead of the stage. He knew he should have left, but didn't want to abandon his friends who would most likely continue to get more inebriated as the day went on. Somebody had to make sure they didn't get into trouble. I'm spending Good Friday in a strip joint, he thought to himself with a shake of his head. How many Hail Mary's will it take to make up for this, he wondered.

As Tony and Clint reveled in the glory of "lusty ladies", Steve grabbed a stack of napkins and took a pen out of his jacket. He'd learned quickly after the attack the previous summer, to always keep a pen with him for autograph seekers who constantly stopped him on the street. With the pen and napkins, he began to doodle. On one napkin, he drew a picture of Tony waving a handful of money at a mirror. His reflection grinned and in the dialogue bubble used in comics, Steve wrote, "Aren't you just gorgeous? I think I'm in love…"

On another napkin, he drew a caricature of Clint shooting an arrow at the side of a barn and missing. The barn had a big target drawn on it. "How could I miss it, it was right in front of me?" The drawing of Clint asked with a frown on his face.

The real Tony and Clint were beginning to get rowdy, calling up to the women on the stage. "You two are going to get thrown out, and I won't try to stop them from doing it," Steve shouted at them over the noise. He looked over his shoulder to see one of the dancers sitting on Tony's lap. Another dancer was leaning down in front of Clint and taking money out of his hand. Steve sighed and rolled his eyes before turning around again and returning to his drawing.

He stopped thinking about what to draw, and began to doodle absentmindedly. He sketched a scrawny-looking soldier in an Army uniform. He gave the drawing scruffy hair that stood up in several places, and the full-sized uniform was rolled up at the wrists and ankles in order to fit. The soldier was standing at the front of a long line at a coffee shop, looking at a giant menu. "What do you mean you don't sell regular coffee?" he asked the woman standing behind the counter. "This is a coffee shop…" The soldier looked bewildered and not at all amused.

Steve finished his sketch and looked at it for a minute. He realized the scrawny soldier was what he used to look like before the experiment. Was that what he really thought he still was, deep underneath? It must be so, for he wasn't any different on the inside than he was before the experiment. All that had changed was on the surface. When he looked in the mirror, Steve could see the larger frame, and the well-developed muscles, but in his mind's eye, this scrawny soldier was what he really saw. Tony had been right when he'd said everything special about him had come out of a bottle.

Before Steve could start on another drawing, Clint turned in his seat and pulled the napkins out of Steve's grip. "Hey, I don't say things like that," he said as Steve turned around to look at him. Clint held up the drawing of himself and frowned. "And I never miss…"

"It's just for fun, like a comic," Steve explained.

Clint looked at the one of Tony and laughed. "Now this one is so true," he declared. "This is totally accurate." Then he looked at the picture of the soldier in the coffee shop and read the caption. He furrowed his brow and handed it back to Steve. "Who's that supposed to be?" he asked.

Steve opened his mouth, but shut it without responding. Maybe nobody else saw him like this after all. "It's…nobody really," he stammered. "It's just a made-up character…"

"He's funny, you should do more," Clint said before turning back to the dancing women.

Steve sat and looked at the drawings. It was fun to use his drawing skills and create things that amused him and others. It helped keep his mind off of painful things. What could he do with it though? He'd seen that there were still comics in the newspapers today, so people still found it as a good form of entertainment. He had started to read Peanuts comics in the daily newspaper since watching the Christmas special featuring the characters. It was something to think about; though there was no way he could possibly compete with the genius of Charles Schulz.

Tony began to get rowdy a short while later, shouting at the women and trying to climb on stage to get closer to them. Clint shouted encouragements at him and applauded. Steve turned to look at them with a scowl. "All right, you guys, I think it's time to get going. You've had a lot to drink and you're starting to be a nuisance," he said, standing up and walking towards the stage to retrieve Tony. "Tony, come on, get down from there," he shouted.

Tony looked down at him. "I don't wanna," he said, frowning down at Steve.

Before Steve could say anything else, a bouncer rushed up to the stage, grabbed Tony around the waist, and hauled him back down to the floor. "All right you guys, you're outta here," the bouncer growled as Steve bent down to grab his napkins before herding Clint out towards the exit.

"I told you you two would be thrown out of here," Steve said with a shake of his head. "I'm amazed you lasted as long as you did." Clint just giggled and squinted as they walked out into the bright afternoon light. Steve held onto Clint's elbow with one hand and grabbed Tony's arm with his other hand and slowly walked them down the street towards Stark Tower.

It was only a two block walk, but it took a long time with two drunken people struggling against him. Finally, though, they reached Tony's place, and the doorman let them in. "So, are you feeling better?" Tony asked Steve in a slurred voice on their way up the elevator. "We just wanted to help…"

Steve helped his friends as they stumbled into the penthouse. Tony barely managed to make it to the sofa, while Clint collapsed just in front of an armchair. Tony pointed and laughed as Steve hauled Clint up off the floor and set him in the armchair. Pepper walked into the room at that moment and looked around. "What happened?" she cried, putting her hands on her hips and frowning. "Steve, what are you doing here? I thought you and Tony were taking a break after the fist fight."

"We were, ma'am, but Clint stopped by today because I've been out of touch. He called Tony over and we all went out," Steve said, trying to be as vague as possible.

"And apparently 'out' means, 'to drink until you can no longer stand'," Pepper said, rolling her eyes. "Except you, you seem fine."

"My metabolism, ma'am, I can't get drunk."

"Please stop calling me ma'am, I cannot possibly be that old," Pepper said, frowning again.

"Sorry ma—er, Pepper," Steve stammered. "Tony's heart really was in the right place, but things just sort of got out of control…"

"With Tony, there is no such thing as control. And then you throw Clint into the mix and it just doubles. Those two should not be allowed to interact, I tell you."

"Would you like me to stay and help out?"

"Might as well," she said as she propped Tony up with a pillow. "Are you hungry?"

"I can always eat," Steve admitted. He followed Pepper into the kitchen and helped her take items out of the refrigerator. He began to make sandwiches as she set plates on the counter and grabbed a bag of potato chips from under a cabinet. She sat down in a chair on the other side of the island in the middle of the kitchen and watched him work. "Tony's quite a busy fella, isn't he?" he commented while spreading mustard on slices of rye bread.

"He never stops," Pepper replied in between bites of her chips. "He's exhausting sometimes. Absolutely exhausting."

"Well, he was a good help to me today," Steve said, piling slices of pastrami onto the bread. "I needed to get out, and get away from my thoughts, and he and Clint were there to help."

Pepper frowned and looked carefully at Steve. "Is everything all right?" she asked, holding her hands out and taking the plate he held out for her.

Steve shrugged and walked around the kitchen island to sit down next to her. "My girlfriend and I broke up," he said quietly before taking a large bite of his sandwich.

"Oh, Steve, I'm so sorry," Pepper replied, reaching out and patting his hand. "I know how much you loved her…"

Steve shrugged and sighed. "Tony said it was all my fault," he explained. "I started talking about marriage and apparently women don't like that these days. At least not so soon in a relationship…"

Pepper looked at him sympathetically. "I can't believe I'm about to say it, but Tony was right," she said. "Women definitely want to wait longer before getting married. And some don't want to get married at all. And they don't want to be pressured into it, ever."

"That's what he said. He also said to give it some time before contacting her. Let her miss me…"

Pepper smiled. "What can I say, he's on a roll," she replied. "She'll probably come around in time, especially if you let her know that you aren't going to pressure her into anything."

Steve finished his sandwich and sighed. "I just wish she wasn't so far away. She took a job in Seattle," he said sadly.

Pepper's eyebrows rose. "She moved across the country? Oh, Steve, you really did terrify the poor girl…" she said, shaking her head.

"Is marriage such a scary thing nowadays?"

Pepper shrugged her shoulders. "It's different for everybody," she replied quietly. "I just think people like their freedom and get frightened of the idea of losing it."

"But…I don't understand," Steve said earnestly. "Marriage is an adventure. I don't want to control her. I…I just want to be with her forever. Is that bad?"

"I think it's really soon in your relationship with her to be that intense. Just enjoy the moment, and don't look for more. Things will progress on their own."

Steve considered this for a moment before nodding. "I can do that," he said, just hoping that he'd have a chance to prove that to Susan one day.

A short time later, he got up to put their plates in the sink. "I should probably go soon," he replied. "I still have several episodes of Downton Abbey to catch up on. I just discovered that show a few days ago and can't stop watching it. It's been the only thing getting me through this…"

Pepper patted his arm sympathetically. "You'll get through it," she reassured him. "Just look at what you've overcome so far in your life. This will end up being just a slight derailment. It'll all work out for the best." She walked with him to the door and opened it as he put his jacket on. "Oh, before I forget," she said lightly. "Sunday, Easter, we're having brunch here. You should come. It'll be fun. We'll start around eleven."

Steve thought about that for a moment before nodding his head. "Mass should be over by then," he replied. "I'd love to come. Thanks for the invitation. Can I bring anything?"

"Oh no, we've got it all covered, but thanks for the offer."

Steve returned to his apartment after that and settled back onto his couch to finish watching Downton Abbey. It was well past midnight before he was done and it did nothing to help improve his mood. He ended up in his kitchen, eating another pie sandwich over the sink to work through the pain.

Much later the next morning, he dragged himself out of bed. It took all of his willpower not to pick up the phone and call Susan. What was she doing right now? Was she thinking about him? Or trying not to think about him? Was she getting settled into some apartment in Seattle and making new friends and not even missing him at all? What if she had completely gotten over him by now and didn't want to return home and he would never see her again?

Steve couldn't stand doing nothing with all these thoughts running through his mind. He wanted to write her a letter, but he didn't know her address; and the fact that she was blind would make it difficult for her to read it, as well. He looked around his apartment and found nothing he wanted to do, so he grabbed his jacket and wallet and left to go the library. He spent several hours there, reading Hardy Boys books to take his mind off his thoughts.

Later that afternoon, he left to find a place to eat. He'd given up pizza for Lent, and that had led him to venture out and try new foods he'd not yet had a chance to try. He felt curious enough to try something completely foreign to him and chose a Thai restaurant. He picked out three entrees with varying degrees of spice and ate all of them before declaring himself pleasantly stuffed. As he left the restaurant, he told himself he'd have to ask Tony if he'd ever heard of Thai food before. He also told himself to look up Thailand on a world map, the next time he was at the library.

The rest of the evening was spent watching movies at his apartment. Tony had started giving him movies to watch each Monday after their Monopoly game, saying it was good for him to get caught up on pop culture. After learning how to make popcorn in the microwave, which had been a revelation for him, he enjoyed watching movies at his home more. He settled in with a bowl of popcorn, and turned on a movie called "Ferris Bueller's Day Off". It turned out to be quite amusing and the dynamic between the two best friends reminded him of Tony and himself. Tony would definitely skip school and join a parade, Steve thought to himself.

Sunday dawned early, and it was still dark when he left for breakfast before church. Easter Mass was one of the most important events of the year and it started early. He was looking forward to it, as it would be the first Easter since his return. He chuckled to himself that he had something in common with Jesus now. Although, he thought, Jesus _actually_ died…It was still an amusing, if slightly irreverent thought.

The congregation was packed that morning. Mass lasted over two hours, and Steve was ravenous by the time it was over, but he felt renewed and refreshed as well. Sunday Mass always made him feel this way, but Easter Mass was even better.

The sun was bright and shining by the time he left church to walk to Stark Tower and it was a perfect spring day. People smiled and nodded to one another on the streets as they walked and took in the wonderful weather. Steve stopped and bought a bouquet of flowers for Pepper on his way. He tried not to think about Susan and the fact that he would give them to her if she was here with him.

"Oh Steve, they're lovely," Pepper said when he arrived and held out the bouquet of daisies and carnations to her. "Thank you so much. Come in, come in. How are you today?"

"Well, thank you," Steve replied before glancing around to see who else was there. There were a few people he didn't recognize, and a few members of SHIELD that he had seen before. "And hungry…"

Pepper chuckled and led him over to the bar where Tony and Clint were sitting. "Well, we'll eat soon, I promise," she said. She left them a moment later to answer a knock at the door.

"Happy Easter," Steve greeted his friends before sitting down in a bar chair next to them and ordering a Bloody Mary from the bartender.

"How was Mass? It must be nice having a new Pope just in time for Easter," Clint said in greeting.

"Mass was good," Steve replied with a nod of his head. "I'm curious to see what the Pope will do, in time…I've heard that it's not a common occurrence to have a Pope retire…"

They were discussing their adventures from Friday when Pepper approached the men with another woman at her side. "Boys," Pepper said, looking sharply at each one as they immediately stopped talking. "I'd like you to meet a friend of mine, Bernie Rosenthal." She smiled and pointed out each of the men. "This is Clint Barton, one of Tony's buddies, and Tony, you know him." Bernie shook each hand with the introduction. Pepper smiled as she turned to Steve. "And this, is Steve Rogers. Steve is one of Tony's newer friends," she said, as Bernie shook his hand.

Steve looked at Bernie and smiled in return. She was a very pretty woman in her twenties. She didn't resemble Susan at all, but he still thought she was quite attractive. Susan had a smile that lit up the room and wore her heart on her sleeve, and Bernie appeared to be more straight-laced and serious. Pepper continued with the introductions after a moment. "Steve, Bernie here is an artist. Isn't that interesting? She has her own glassworks studio in the Village. She is very talented."

Bernie smiled. "Pepper, don't lay it on too thick," she replied with a grin. She turned and looked at Steve. "I have been known to dabble in glassblowing." She and Pepper walked off together into the dining room where trays of food had been set up for the guests.

Tony approached Steve and cackled. "Steve…you gotta go for it, man," he said quietly. "I know you just broke up with Susan, but as they say, you're only young once…"

"Or twice in your case," Clint added. "I'm with Tony, go for it. I mean hell, she's a glassblower…" He and Tony started to snicker as Steve looked at them with confusion. "Uh…anyway, let's go eat," Clint continued after a minute. "I'm starving."

The three men walked into the dining room and picked up plates which they quickly piled high with food. Steve was amazed at the variety of food, and made a point of stocking up on the miniature pizzas on one of the trays, now that Lent was officially over. "I've missed you," he said in greeting before popping one in his mouth and eating it in a single bite.

He sat down next to Bernie, who was daintily eating fruit salad and slices of lox on pieces of some type of cracker he'd never seen before. "What's that?" he asked, pointing to the crackers.

"Haven't you ever seen matzo before?" Bernie asked. She held out a piece for him to try. "It's Passover, so I can't eat anything with yeast," she explained while he tried the cracker. "It's tasty, isn't it?"

Steve nodded and smiled. "It is," he replied. They engaged in a quiet conversation while everybody else talked and ate and enjoyed themselves. Bernie was very interesting, very opinionated, and he found it difficult to keep up with her most of the time. He didn't have the immediate trust in her that he had in Susan, and kept his past to himself, for now at least. It wouldn't last for long, because his life story seemed to be public record, thanks to the phenomenon of social media in today's world. But it was nice to have more friends in his life, if nothing else.

He looked across the table and saw Pepper and Tony glance at him and whisper to one another. One of them had invited Bernie to the brunch for him; he just wasn't sure which one of them had done it. It didn't matter, really. Both of them were good friends to care so much about him. Maybe in time he would be able to get over his heartache. He turned his head and smiled at Bernie. "So, tell me about yourself…"


End file.
